ActiveRain - What Kind of Name Are You Making For Yourself?

In today's class we'll talk about our comments in ActiveRain. Further let's pay attention to what is at the bottom of each of our comments. That's right - it's our name and our company reference! When we make a great comment on somebody's post, they can click it because it is a hyperlink. It will take them to our ActiveRain profile page where they can learn about us. Hopefully they go further, check out our blog and perhaps even comment back on our posts!

When you first start on ActiveRain, you go to your "My Profile: Edit" page and fill out your name and your company name fields, exactly as you are "told" ... because you don't know better yet! Well, now that you are reading this post, you probably aren't a newbie anymore and you are ready to go to the next level. As you've been noticing on other peoples comments, people are showing all sorts of great things under their comments... for example, where they are located and what their specialties are. That's a great thing because you associate them to a place. In case you are ready to refer somebody to their neck of the woods, how important would that be to know WHERE they are! What is their line of work? Are they a real estate agent, contractor, home inspector, or a home stager, loan specialist, or etc. That's a good thing to see there too!

So here's the secret. On your "My Profile: Edit" page (get there via your left-hand sidebar menu when you are on your "My Home" page) it asks for "First Name" and "Last Name" and "Company". However, ActiveRain allows 40 characters for each of the first two fields and 60 characters for the Company field. With that space, you can do all sorts of additional important information!

I want to mention two things that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you do. (1) Don't forget your name. I have had comments that the commentor put everything BUT their name :) I had to go to their profile page to find out what their name was so I could use it in my response back. (2) put your name as the very first part - don't hide it in the middle somewhere. It is so much easier to see the person's name when it comes very first.

I went to a recent post of mine to look for good examples of names on comments that you can get ideas from. In these examples, I have diagrammed with XXXXX's how many characters you can use 40+40+60 and how different ARs have set theirs up. First, we'll look at Melissa:

Melissa used "first name" for her whole name - then "last name" can identify the type of work and where she is. Finally, she put her company name in the last field. A simple, effective job done in leveraging her name fields. (She has a little of room unused... she might want to consider adding specific keyword targets like Escondido, Romona, and any other focal points. The broad categorization is useful also so don't lose it, because somebody reading your blog hundreds of miles away wouldn't likely know Escondido but they will know San Diego) Think about this, Google hones in on backlinks for ranking pages. Every time you are making a comment, you are giving Google something to grab on to. If your links include important combinations of "real estate", "homes", "homes for sale" along with your geographic target keywords (specific keywords for your niche areas are best, ask yourself are these the terms somebody would somebody would actually use in a google search OR am I being too geographically wide?)

Next, will go to Tom:

We see his specialties, his location (VERY important), trade, and he also includes his phone number. Keep in mind that you can start a phrase in first name field and then continue it in the last name field. As you can see in the blue text above it strings the two parts together and puts whatever you have in the company field inside the parentheses.

Next let's look at Steve:

Besides being broad scoped in just "San Diego" he also lists the specific locale keywords that might actually be google searched. Great job!

Finally, we'll notice what Debbie has done:

She's a pro at keywords isn't she. She has floors and flooring, hardwood and carpet and tile and including the option of Refinishing. Not only does she call out Westchester but another key market of Fairfield. There are so many characters to work with, so you have to make some decisions on what you think will have the greatest SEO return.

Great job all in the above examples! Now that you know this, take a look at your own name fields and ask "when I make comments, what kind of a name am I making for myself!"

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About the
Author

Craig Daniels is a Technology Manager residing in NYC who specializes in applied technologies in the fields of Architecture and Real Estate. Craig focuses on finding the best uses of tech as can be used to help a business be more successful. He is keen on always seeing the perspective and viewpoint of his audience and he tailors his teaching to be easily understood. He teaches by means of this blog, by means of regular webinars, as well as one-on-one remote sessions with persons located throughout the country and beyond.

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